Archive for September, 2014

What are some of the ways that gender and diversity manifest online? Is this different or the same as in physical space?

The lack of women or diversity in the technology industry has long been a hot topic in Silicon Valley and in major companies, and statistics suggest the situation has only grown worse. While computer science enrollments are increasing, the representation of women among these programs’ graduates has declined to 11.7 percent. Being diverse of having a diverse staff is something people and companies are trying everyday. I believe it is the same and in physical space because the more ideas you have coming in the better. It shouldn’t matter if you are black,brown, or white, or even a female. As long as things are productive than there shouldn’t be issues. Below is a quote from Marissa Mayer.

Ms. Mayer (Executive)said “There is a decline in women graduating in computer science and engineering and that is concerning, but the simple fact is we just aren’t producing enough computer scientists, so I view it as less of a gender issue. So if we can produce more computer scientists the absolute numbers of women will grow and we’ll achieve more balance”

What are the challenges the digital world faces in becoming more diverse?

Some challenges the digital world faces in the long run is the major companies not wanting to change or wanting to adapt to change. Technology is growing and changing on a daily basis and having a diverse group of employees will help. Some of the big company’s are afraid of change but will have to do it sooner than later to stay relevant.

Google executive Ms. Wojcicki said “there is a lot of opportunity for people to come in fresh, to start their own business. On the other hand, because it’s so fast-moving if you drop out of that market, it’s harder to come back in. You can’t do a lot of these jobs two days a week, like you could do in other types of careers.”

Looking at the article from USA today. It shows that the most popular technology companies are dominated by males and Caucasians and Asians (USA Today). It really doesn’t shock me to looking at those numbers. I also found it interesting reading the most The 46 Most Important African-Americans In Technology article. (Top 46 Important African Americans)

I noticed Number 30 Condelazza Rice and Number 1 Denise Young Smith really impressed me with Rice on the Board of Directors for Dropbox and D.Y Smith the Head of Human Resources for arguably one of the most popular companies in the world in Apple. I’m sure it wasn’t easy gaining those positions but I took someone to break away from the norm to notice that diversity can help your company in many ways.

“As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page,” Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a blog post online. “Put simply, Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity,” Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president of people operations,

Overall rankings for Top Diversity Per Company

To calculate how the 14 tech companies fared overall, Fortune assigned points based on how they ranked in five categories: Overall gender diversity, overall ethnic diversity, gender diversity of the leadership team, ethnic diversity of the leadership team and gender diversity among technical workers. Companies that failed to report data in a particular category were given last place points for that category. Here’s how they stacked up, at least by Fortune’s measure:

The definition of interactivity based on many dimensions: direction of communication, time flexibility, sense of place, level of control, responsiveness, and perceived purpose of communication. I did some research and i came across some other dimensions of interactivity.

Cause and Effect Interactivity – The most common view of interactivity involves “cause and effect” relationships with the user; the user performs an action with some sort of input device and as a result another action occurs.

The Illusion of Interactivity: Lev Manovich in his book “The Language of New Media” proposes the idea that interactivity is an illusion because the user can only interact with those choices that have already been programmed into the “interactive” object by a designer. The Language of New Media

Interactivity in new Media Art: In new media art the goal is not only for a cause and effect action or real time control over the object but an interplay between the objects and the users.

Interactivity in New Media Communication: The ability to communicate with another person over the internet instantly through instant messenger applications or telephone applications is another aspect of new media interactivity.

“In computers, interactivity is the dialog that occurs between a human being (or possibly another live creature) and a computer program.”

My definition of “Interactivity” in regards to new media as “allowing a two-way flow of information between it a computer or other electronic device and a user, responding to the user’s input. (What is new,new media?)

Jobs and Gates are some of the pioneers in technology for our generation. The are key pieces to some of the most know and used technology today (Apple and Microsoft). Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have had many business dealings dating back to the late 1970’s with the release of the AppleSoft. The name came from joining “Apple” and “Microsoft.” Gates went on to program for the early Mac computers which led to disputes about how much of the Mac’s features were borrowed by Windows.

A young Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

How do you feel about Mark Zuckerberg in relation to Gates and Jobs?

Zuckerberg, Gates and Jobs are all in the same category regarding the computer and technology how its is used today. All three had struggles they had to overcome major obstacles. I think Mark Zuckerberg had it tough not only because he had his friends trying to sue him once his company “The Facebook” got started he had other people trying to bring him down. They all relate to each other in very different way but all all pioneers on how we use technology and the web today. Steve Jobs had many people that said Apple wouldn’t work “I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake,” says Goldstein. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-05-20/commentary-sorry-steve-heres-why-apple-stores-wont-work

Jobs Gates Zuckerberg

Where is the technology industry going?

It seems to me that Apple leads and the industry will spend the next couple years trying to bridge the gap. That has been good for Apple but devastating for competitors like Samsung. Apple forges ahead and makes the rest of the industry want to catch up. I think by the year 2020 mostly everything regarding technology will be touchscreen and voice activated. If Facebook can get 5.5 million users in the first 2 years anything can happen regarding the technology industry. One area that Apple hasn’t dominated is television. In the next couple of years I expect that to change.

I was born and raised in Houston Texas. I went to school in Alief which is in the southwest part of Houston. Growing up in Houston has made me a Rockets, Texans, and Astros fan by default. I am a huge sports fanatic and I know pretty much everything you need to know about every sport. Some of my hobbies include listening to music (I am a big R&B and Hip-Hip guy), taking naps on the regular and attending live sporting events and concerts. I also enjoy eating spicy food, collecting shoes, and playing basketball with my friends.

After graduating high school I moved to San Antonio and attended University of Texas at San Antonio. I obtained a Bachelors degree in Kinesiology and I’m now seeking a Masters degrees in Recreation Administration. I am a Graduate Assistant for Intramural Sports at Student Recreation Center and I hope to land a entire level position after I graduate in Spring 2016. In next 10 years I picture myself as a Director at University Recreation Facility.